“The meeting was deferred for Friday due to busy schedule of some of our leaders,” UML standing committee member Amrit Bohara told Republica.[break]
Leaders said the meeting had to be postponed as former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal was to be awarded with peace prize by Dilli Raman Regmi Foundation in the afternoon and another leader KP Sharma Oli was scheduled to fly to New Delhi reportedly for health check up.
The meeting was keenly observed as it came at a time when the chairman and Oli have reportedly forged an alliance and Khanal at the meeting was reportedly preparing to table a proposal in view of the changed context.
The meeting was postponed at the eleventh hour even as some of the standing committee members had already reached at the party´s head office at Balkhu. Party vice-chairman Ashok Rai, who arrived all the way from Udaypur to attend the meeting, said he was informed about the deferral of the meeting when he arrived near Thankot, the entry point to the Kathmandu valley. “I am still not clear why it was postponed,” he said.
According to leaders privy to the latest development in the party, Khanal at the meeting was planning to propose to give third position -- after Khanal and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal -- in the party hierarchy to standing committee member KP Sharma Oli.
Khanal was also believed to be preparing to propose a reshuffle in the party´s work divisions in line with the changed context.
However, some UML leaders have smelt a rat over postponement of the meeting. "The function Nepal attended and also Oli´s visit was prescheduled,” said a leader preferring anonymity. “Therefore, there might be some other reasons behind the decision to postpone the meeting.”
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